Mischief Managed?
by verliebtindich
Summary: A series of mysterious pranks happens at Hogwarts. And for some reason Ginny is always around when something goes wrong. Is someone trying to get her into trouble? -written for the "Who-Done-It-Challenge"
1. Chapter 1

_**Written for the "Who Done It"-Challenge**_

_**note: Thanks a lot for my two wonderful betas **_**alicenotinwonderland**_** and **_**MrsBates93 _who were a huge helpt to me! You two are great! :)_**_**  
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**_(I don't own Harry Potter)_**

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It was a funny feeling to wave goodbye to Ron and Harry while the Hogwarts Express pulled out of King's Cross Station; they soon became two small figures in the distance.

Hermione was still standing at the window, staring outside, even though they had already been out of sight for a while.

"Come on," Ginny said and touched her shoulder, "Let's go and find some seats."

"I've never been on the train without them." Hermione said with a sigh and pulled her eyes away from the window.

"I know. But you can write to each other every day if you like. Besides you'll see them again at Christmas at the latest. You'll see, time will fly by." Ginny tried to cheer her up while they looked for an empty compartment.

"Well, I am looking forward to a quiet term for a change so that I can concentrate on my NEWTs," Hermione replied. "Oh look, there's Luna. Let's go and sit with her."

Ginny pushed open the compartment's door and they both sat down opposite Luna Lovegood. She was the only one in the compartment.

"Hi Luna!" they both greeted her.

"Hello Ginny and Hermione." Luna said looking up from the copy of the Quibbler she had been reading, "I didn't know that you wanted to return to Hogwarts." She looked at Hermione without blinking and obviously expected an answer.

"Well, I never had the chance to take my NEWTs last year so I want to make up for it now," Hermione replied.  
"We're all in the same year now!" Ginny said and grinned at the other two.

"Oh, but they didn't make you head girl. I wonder why...A girl from my dormitory is head girl, but she doesn't like me. She thinks I'm weird. Although she acted all nice when she came in a few minutes ago. But I guess that was only because I know you and you're all famous now."

Ginny and Hermione exchanged a glance before Ginny decided to change the subject.

"So, tell us, Luna, what's going on between you and Neville?" she asked and stifled a giggle. Hermione didn't say anything but looked at Luna with interest. Ginny had filled her in about all the rumours about Luna and Neville but she still wouldn't believe a word of it until she had heard Luna or Neville admit it themselves. She knew Ginny too well to do otherwise.

Luna only looked at Ginny with a confused expression on her face. "I don't know what you mean. He's really nice of course. But you already know that, don't you?"

The rest of the journey was spent talking about boys, their holidays and school. But there was one topic they didn't talk about because they didn't want to ruin the mood.

When they reached the station in Hogsmeade and got off the train, they couldn't really avoid it any longer.

As they walked towards the carriages which would take them up to the castle Hermione suddenly stopped dead. "Now I understand what Harry meant when he said that he wished he couldn't see them," she said in a low voice, looking at a skeletal, reptilian horse.

Neither of them had actually seen any of their close friends or family die, but it still reminded them of all the losses they had suffered.

Therefore they were all quite silent while the carriages slowly moved up towards the castle.

When they finally arrived all three of them hurried up the stone steps to get into the Entrance Hall as it was already getting cold outside.

When they walked inside, Hermione looked around in surprise. The last time she had been there, everything had been destroyed. But now the castle almost looked as if it had never been touched by the destruction of the wizarding war.

Ginny and Luna looked around, too. Ginny was just about to say something when they heard a cackle behind them and suddenly Ginny's skirt was lifted.

She quickly held it down with her hand and hissed with a very red face: "Peeves!"

Before anyone could do anything, she had pulled an apple out of her pocket and thrown it at the poltergeist who was now floating in the air above her, grinning wickedly.

When the apple hit him, Peeves did some back somersaults in the air and then rushed towards Ginny, who was still glaring at him.

But before he could reach her, a strict voice called: "Peeves, as the Headmistress of Hogwarts, I order you to leave the Entrance Hall immediately," Professor McGonagall came walking down the marble staircase. Peeves didn't dare to contradict the Headmistress so he flew out of the Entrance Hall. But not without calling Ginny rude names as he left.

Ginny looked at Hermione and Luna and together they walked into the Great Hall.


	2. Chapter 2

The first weeks of their last year passed just as quietly as Hermione had wished for. She got to know her new class mates, went to lessons with Ginny and spent a lot of time in the library, doing her homework and revising. It was still a bit weird for her, being without Ron and Harry but with time she got used to it and enjoyed her time with Ginny and also with Luna.

The week before Halloween when Ginny and Hermione walked through the Gryffindor common room, Ginny spotted a note on the noticeboard.

"Oh look, there's a Hogsmeade trip on Halloween. That will be fun!" Ginny said.

Hermione smiled, "Maybe I can write to Ron and we can meet there."

Ginny rolled her eyes mockingly and they climbed out of the portrait hole and went down for breakfast.

It was when they walked past the Hufflepuff table that the first strange thing happened.

Hermione and Ginny were still deep in conversation about how they'd like to spend their Hogsmeade trip with their boyfriends and whether or not Ginny should secretly invite Neville, when she suddenly spotted something out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head towards the Hufflepuff table and stopped dead. She looked down at a group of third year Hufflepuff boys who were sitting nearby. To Ginny's utter surprise their hair had turned a flaming red which could obviously even be seen from the teachers' table as Professor McGonagall was now rushing towards the boys. Ginny and Hermione walked on towards the Gryffindor table and sat down but kept an eye on the scene which was unfolding as Professor McGonagall was turning the boys hair back to normal and started to argue with them.

Hermione and Ginny started eating their breakfast. Ginny was still grinning about what had happened but Hermione frowned wondering who had cast the spell on the Hufflepuffs.

When she buttered her toast, she could overhear the four boys trying to explain that they had no idea how their hair had suddenly turned red and Professor McGonagall left their table without taking any points from Hufflepuff for performing magic outside the classrooms because she couldn't prove that they had done anything wrong.

After they had finished breakfast Hermione and Ginny left for Defence against the Dark Arts. When they sat down at their usual seats in the second row – a compromise between Hermione, who wanted to take seats in the first row, and Ginny, who preferred to sit further in the back – their teacher wasn't there yet. So, Hermione took out a piece of parchment and a quill and started writing her letter to Ron. Ginny looked at her for a moment and then took out her wand and levitated some pieces of a broken quill, someone had left there.

"Hi Ginny," a voice said suddenly from beside her. The pieces fell back on the table and Ginny looked up in shock.

It was Peter Belson, who usually sat next to her in that class.

"Hi Peter," Ginny replied and smiled back at Peter, who was literally beaming at her.

As he sat down, he asked, "Did you see those Hufflepuffs this morning?" He shook with laughter, "The ones who accidentally turned their hair red? It was hilarious. Typical Hufflepuff."  
Ginny grinned, "Yeah, we were just passing their table when I suddenly realised that their hair had changed colour."

Peter had just opened his mouth to reply when Professor Dawlish, their new DADA teacher entered the classroom and started the lesson. Hermione sat up even straighter than before and Ginny pulled her book out of her bag. They both thought that Professor Dawlish was quite a good teacher and hoped that he'd stay at Hogwarts for more than a year. He had previously been an Auror but had decided to become a teacher for Defence against the Dark Arts after the war.

"Today we're going to practice _Protego Horribilis__,_" Professor Dawlish announced. "Does anyone know what this spell is used for?"

Of course, Hermione's hand shot into the air within a split second.

Dawlish looked around the class to see if anyone else knew the answer.

Ginny, who had been thinking for a moment, now raised her hand, too.

"Yes, Miss Weasley?"

"I think, it's some kind of shield charm," she said.

"Very good."

He nodded towards Hermione who was still holding her hand in the air.  
"To be specific, it's the strongest form of shield charm which protects the one who's casting it against many but not all dark curses."

"Exactly! Five points to Gryffindor for the both of you."

Dawlish then started to explain how to cast the spell and put them together into pairs to practice.

Hermione had to practice with Laura, a girl from her dormitory and Ginny was paired off with Peter.

They were all finding some space in the classroom so that they could practice, facing each other and getting ready, when suddenly Peter started making funny noises. First it sounded as if he was choking on something. Then he opened his mouth and tentacles came sprouting out of his mouth and it looked as if he had swallowed an octopus. Each time he tried to say something, the tentacles fidgeted wildly and Peter's eyes grew wider. By that time the whole class was staring at him and Ginny who was still standing opposite Peter with her wand raised, ready to perform her spell. Slowly the first of them started laughing at the sight of Peter.

Professor Dawlish, who had looked at the scene with a puzzled expression on his face walked quickly towards Ginny and Peter, he pointed his wand at the boy and Peter started coughing as the tentacles vanished and looked at Ginny instead.

Ginny, who had now realised that she was still pointing her wand at Peter, let her wand sink slowly down to her side and looked around to find the rest of the class staring back at her, including Professor Dawlish.

"Miss Weasley, five points will be taken from Gryffindor."

Ginny opened her mouth in shock. She hadn't done anything but point her wand at Peter. She hadn't even thought of casting a spell at him, "But Professor! I didn't do anything," she protested.

Professor Dawlish only gave her a sceptical look and then announced that she'd better work with Laura and that she was supposed to come and talk to him after the lesson.

When the bell rang half an hour later, Ginny picked up her stuff and walked to the teacher's desk. Hermione meanwhile waited for her friend outside the classroom.

When Ginny finally arrived outside after five minutes, she looked miserable.

"Did he give you detention?" Hermione asked.

"No," Ginny shook her head. "But he's still taken five points from Gryffindor for me not doing anything wrong."

Hermione frowned, "What do you mean, not doing anything wrong?"

"I didn't curse Peter or anything! You know me Hermione; I can hardly do a _Lumos_ charm without speaking, let alone a charm I've never even performed before! And did you hear me cursing Peter?"

Hermione frowned even more, "But who else could have done it, then?"

Ginny shrugged, "The only thing I know is that everyone thought it was me. Did you see Peter glaring at me? He looked like he wanted to kill me..."

"But somebody must have cursed him," Hermione continued her own track of thinking. "Then there was that strange incident this morning with the Hufflepuffs. Do you think there's a connection between the two of them?"

"I don't know. But I definitely want to know who made it look like I cursed Peter so that I can curse _them_."

"Well, I don't have time to think about it now but we're going to investigate later. Are you coming to the Owlery with me? I've finished my letter to Ron and Harry and want to send it as soon as possible."

Ginny agreed and together they walked off to the Owlery.


	3. Chapter 3

In the evening Ginny and Hermione sat together in the Gryffindor Common room. Ginny wanted to talk about the incident in their DADA class again but Hermione was too busy doing her homework and every time Ginny brought up the matter she asked her if she'd already finished _hers_. After a while Ginny decided that it was indeed the best idea to do her homework first because otherwise she couldn't start a conversation with Hermione.

She got out her books, quill and parchment and started writing a difficult Potions essay which was due for the next day. At first she looked up every few minutes, trying to catch Hermione's eye. But Hermione was so focused on her own essay that she didn't look in Ginny's direction and so Ginny started concentrating on her own homework, too.

By the time they had finished, it was almost midnight and they were both so tired that even Ginny wasn't in the mood for talking anymore. So the two girls packed up their books and went upstairs to their dormitory, yawning all the way.

The next morning during breakfast an owl arrived with Ron's answer in which he asked whether they could bring George, too because he thought that his brother might need some cheering up. Hermione wrote him a quick reply, telling him that she and Ginny were looking forward to meeting Harry, Ron and George in Hogsmeade in two days' time.

After breakfast they set off for their Transfiguration lesson. They were joined by Luna who was also in that class.

"Hi Ginny and Hermione," Luna greeted them at the door of the Great Hall.

"Morning, Luna." The two of them replied as they started walking up the stairs to the third floor.

"Is it true that you cursed Peter Belson in Defence against the Dark Arts yesterday?" Luna asked and stared at Ginny. "Because I told Mandy if it's true, you were probably under the influence of wrack spurts. Otherwise you wouldn't do such a thing."  
Ginny groaned, "No, I didn't curse or hex him or anything else you have been told!" She looked furiously at the other two, "I can't believe that's even worth to be spread as a rumour."

When they entered their Transfiguration classroom Hermione got out her homework to re-read it again which she usually did before she handed it in to make sure that there were no mistakes. Ginny and Luna got their homework out too, but just put theirs on the table while Luna told Ginny about an article her father had published in the latest edition of the Quibbler. Ginny didn't believe in most of the stories from the Quibbler but she enjoyed listening about them.

"And Daddy also put some of the pictures I had drawn of the Scrumple Horned Snorkacks last summer into the article which makes me really proud, of course," Luna was just telling Ginny, when suddenly they heard a distinct laugh and a wind rushed through the classroom, making all the sheets which were lying on their tables fly around the room and land in a huge mess on the floor. There was another laugh and then the wind died away.

When Professor McGonagall entered the classroom, all of the students were crawling on the floor, picking up pieces of parchment and searching for their own homework.

"What's going on?" Professor McGonagall asked in a harsh tone. As everyone except for Hermione was still busy under their tables, she looked at Hermione whose homework hadn't flown away because she had been holding it in her hands. "Miss Granger, could you please explain to me who has caused this chaos?"

Due to her habit of answering a teacher's question immediately and detailed, Hermione said, "A wind has caused all the sheets to fly in the air and land on the floor in this mess. But I don't know how this could have happened. All the windows have been closed and it almost looked like a tiny storm within the room."  
Professor McGonagall had been listening to her quietly and nodded after Hermione had finished her report but still didn't say anything. Instead she looked rather confused, which was an expression one didn't often see on the Headmistress's face.

Then she looked at the rest of the class again, shook her head and said: "_Accio _homework!" and all the sheets came flying into her arms, forming a neat pile.

The pupils went back to their seats and Professor McGonagall told them to get out their books. "Before you start the practical part of today's lesson I want you to read through chapter five again because otherwise there will be too many dangerous accidents when you try to vanish and restore your partner's body parts. In the meantime, I'll start correcting your homework."

There was some whispering while they opened their books and skimmed through them, looking for chapter five. But then the class remained silent, concentrating hard on the text.

After a few minutes Hermione had finished reading and looked up at Professor McGonagall to find her looking back at her.

"Miss Granger, have you finished reading chapter five?"

Hermione nodded.

"Could you come here for a moment?" Professor McGonagall asked.

Hermione looked confused but got up and walked to the front of the class towards the teacher's desk.

"Is this the piece of homework you've handed in for today?"

After seeing her own handwriting, Hermione agreed.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, it's my handwriting," she pointed at the heading, "Is anything wrong with my essay, Professor?"

"Well, not if you intended to write this utter nonsense."

Hermione looked at her teacher wide eyed. What was she talking about?

"What do you mean, 'utter nonsense'?"

"Look at this sentence," Professor McGonagall pointed at the second paragraph.

Hermione's eyes got even wider, as her lips silently formed the words 'Letting one rip is a very complex process due to the fact that your backside is a very unpredictable part in itself."

"P-P-Professor," she stammered. "I haven't written this! Honestly."  
Professor McGonagall looked Hermione straight in the eye for a long moment. Then she nodded, "I think I know you well enough to understand that you wouldn't hand in a piece of homework like this. But I still have to grade you. So I will give you the chance to re-write your essay and hand it in next week's lesson."

"Thank you." Hermione murmured as Professor McGonagall handed her the strange essay, and went back to her seat.

"What's the matter?" Ginny whispered as Hermione sat down.

But Hermione just said, "Later." Because Professor McGonagall was now asking questions about the chapter and she didn't want to leave an even worse impression after having handed in this strange piece of homework.

After their Transfiguration class they had a short break during which Ginny, Hermione and Luna stood together in a corner of the courtyard while Hermione told the other two about her essay.

"I really don't understand it," she finished. "It's in my handwriting and everything but in every sentence some of the words have been changed to turn my homework into a ridiculous text."  
Ginny took the piece of parchment from her. When she started reading it, she couldn't help giggling at the thought of Hermione's panic when she had first seen it in front of Professor McGonagall.

"It's _not_ funny, Ginny!" Hermione snapped and pulled the essay away from her, "Something really weird is going on..."  
"Yeah, don't forget the little whirlwind, which mixed up all our homework..." Ginny scratched her head in thought.

"Have you realised that all the weird things happen when you are around, Ginny?" Luna asked.

Ginny's mouth dropped open.

"Are you saying that I have caused all this to happen?" she almost shouted at Luna.

"No," Luna replied, staying totally calm. "But maybe someone wants everyone else to think it is you..."

Ginny raised her eyebrows, "This actually makes sense. But who could it be?"

Her question was left open as the bell for the end of the break rang and they all had to leave for different classes.

When Hermione arrived at the Gryffindor table for lunch, Ginny had already finished her stew.

"Where have you been?" she asked Hermione.

"Library," Hermione said between two spoonful's of stew.

Ginny didn't ask any further questions. It had already become a common joke among her, Ron and Harry that Hermione seemed to go to the library for any apparent and non-apparent reason.

"Okay, let's go down to the dungeons." Hermione suggested after she had eaten her lunch at an unusually fast speed.

In front of the Dungeon a queue of students had already formed waiting to go inside. As Hermione and Ginny lined up, Ginny realised that Peter, who was standing in front of them glared at her and thought that Luna might have a point.

She was just about to turn around and ask Hermione about it when she found Hermione gripping for her shoulder and screaming.

Everyone else turned around too and stared at her.

Her legs had started wobbling badly as she was holding onto Ginny so as not to fall over. It looked a bit like she was performing a weird dance.

Some Slytherins who were standing at the front of the line started giggling. But Ginny didn't feel like laughing. "_What __i__s going on now?_" She thought to herself.  
Suddenly Hermione's legs kept still but as she wasn't prepared for it, she stumbled and twisted her ankle. She bit her lip, not to scream out loud from the pain.

"Miss Weasley!" a voice from behind them said and they saw Professor Slughorn waddle down the corridor. "Two points will be taken from Gryffindor for cursing your fellow student!"

"What?" Ginny screamed. "I haven't done anything!"

"I'm sorry Miss Weasley but you were standing very close to Miss Granger and I saw your wand hand move when Miss Granger was hit by the Jelly Leg curse!"

"But..."

"No 'buts' Miss Weasley. Now take Miss Granger to the hospital wing!"


	4. Chapter 4

"Can we talk things over now?"

Hermione looked up from the book she had been reading to face Ginny who had just climbed through the portrait hole and who came marching towards her now.

Hermione had had her dinner in the common room as her ankle still hurt. Madam Pomfrey had told her that it was best to cool the ankle and other than that let it heal on its own. She had put a bit of cooling crème on it and sent a house-elf to bring some food up to the Gryffindor common-room so that she wouldn't have to walk down and back up all the stairs.

It was already quite late because Ginny had been to a Quidditch training which had taken her longer than she had expected, taking into consideration that she was the Quidditch captain now. A fact she still hadn't got used to. As Hermione glanced at her watch now, she realized that it was already half past eleven. She stifled a yawn as Ginny approached her now, and took her books from the armchair next to hers and looked at her friend expectantly.

"I've thought about everything," Ginny announced as she flopped herself into the armchair, "Every single one of these strange events happened, when I was around. First Peter grew some tentacles in DADA, when I was supposed to practice with him. Then our Transfiguration-essay went flying through the classroom and your essay was suddenly changed to something you hadn't written. And then you were hit by a Jelly-Leg-curse when I was standing behind you.." She trailed off.  
"Don't forget the Hufflepuffs, whose hair turned red, when we walked passed their table." Hermione interrupted her.

"True," Ginny said, "But whoever has done all these pranks, probably wants me to get the blame for them."

Hermione nodded.

"And I've already found a suspect," Ginny announced, "Do you remember the first day of term, when I threw an apple at Peeves and he didn't get the chance to get me back for it?"

Hermione nodded again but opened her mouth to say something. But Ginny continued without letting Hermione interrupt her, "I think it was Peeves who did all these pranks to get me into trouble!" She concluded.

"That was my first suspicion, too," Hermione got the chance to say now. "But it's impossible."  
"What? Why is it impossible?"  
"Because poltergeists cannot perform real spells like the Jelly-Leg-curse or the one that hit Peter for that matter. They can only cause trouble and mischief. I've looked it all up." She lifted the book she had been reading before Ginny had arrived.

Ginny frowned. "But who else could have done it then?" She asked.

"I don't know," Hermione replied, "But I'm sure we can find out when we try to approach the problem very accurately. Let's write down all the facts we know so far." She looked around for a piece of parchment but couldn't find any.

When she lifted herself up from her armchair, she gave a wince of pain.

"Wait, I'll get you some parchment," Ginny said and jumped up and went upstairs to the girls' dormitory. All of the other girls were already fast asleep when Ginny entered the room. After all it was already just before midnight. Ginny tiptoed to her bed next to which stood her school bag. She picked it up and went back downstairs.

But when she went to approach Hermione, she didn't see anyone sitting in her armchair. Ginny looked around the common-room but it was empty. When she took a closer look at Hermione's armchair, she gasped in shock. Where Hermione had been sitting was no longer a bushy-haired girl but a big, bright orange pumpkin!

Ginny stood for some seconds and just stared at the vegetable, not wanting to believe what she had immediately known when she had seen it: Hermione had been turned into a pumpkin!

What was she going to do now? With Hermione at her side she had been positive that they could solve this mystery. But now, without Hermione, this didn't seem very likely anymore.

She certainly needed some help. And the first person she thought of was Luna. Struck by a sudden idea, Ginny ran up the stairs to their dormitory again and opened her trunk and rummaging through all her stuff, until she finally pulled out her purse. She opened it and after a few minutes held a gold coin between her fingers. Then she tipped her wand at the coin and thereby sent a message to Luna to meet early the next morning.

She knew that it was too late to meet now. Especially as they were in different houses and could only meet in a classroom or in the corridors. But Ginny was sure that Luna still checked her DA-coin regularly and would be there tomorrow.

When she had informed Luna, Ginny went downstairs again to pick up the Hermione-pumpkin and carry it upstairs. After thinking about where to put her for a moment, Ginny decided to place the pumpkin in Hermione's bed and closed the curtains. Then she put on her pyjamas and went to bed herself. But she didn't fall asleep easily. Had she really done the right thing? Or should she have informed Professor McGonagall or Professor Dawlish? But they would have probably suspected her again. And if she and Luna couldn't solve the mystery together and turn Hermione back to her normal self tomorrow, she could still take her to a teacher.

And with these thoughts in mind Ginny finally fell asleep.

Ginny woke up the next morning at half past six to the sound of her magic alarm-clock, which jumped up and down on her bed and sang a muggle song. The other girls from her dormitory groaned in their sleep and Ginny quickly reached for her wand to silence the alarm-clock before the others woke up. After she got dressed and ready for the day, she picked up the Hermione-pumpkin and carried it downstairs through the portrait-hole and walked along the corridors towards the Room of Requirement. When she got there, she found that the door had already appeared and pushed it open.

This time the room was entirely covered in cushions, had numerous bookshelves on the walls and was filled with the sound of singing birds. Luna sat in a corner, looking at a book with pictures of weird creatures and hummed along to the sound of the birds.

When Ginny entered the room, Luna looked up and then looked mildly surprised as she saw that she was carrying a pumpkin.

"Why have you brought a pumpkin with you?" She asked, without greeting Ginny.

"Oh, it's horrible!" Ginny exclaimed, "This isn't a real pumpkin. It's Hermione!"

"Hermione Granger?"

And then Ginny told her the whole story from the beginning, from her suspicions to the point when she found Hermione as a pumpkin in the common-room.

"And now I really don't know what to do anymore! I'll never be able to find out who played all these pranks without Hermione's help!"

Luna looked at her friend and remained silent for a moment.

"Hm," she said after thinking for a while, "It might not have been a poltergeist. But maybe it was something similar. You know, the ones we love will never truly leave us..."  
"What do you mean? That..." But then something dawned on Ginny. She thought about the pranks again and about the red hair. "Do you mean," she said slowly, "Do you mean, it could be..." She was almost afraid to say it out loud. But Luna nodded encouragingly.

"It was Fred?" Ginny whispered.

That moment several things happened: A wind was getting up in the room which made their hair messy. At the same time they could hear a laughter, which Ginny now recognized immediately as her late brother's. Then a big bang made the two girls jump and Hermione was standing in the spot where the pumpkin had been lying seconds before and finally a pearly-white and slightly transparent image of Fred Weasley materialized in front of them in the air.

"Took you quite a while to figure it out, didn't it, little sister?" He asked and grinned at Ginny.

"Fred!" She exclaimed, half laughing, half crying, "But – how...?"

"You mean how did I become a ghost?" Fred asked, "Well, I'm not quite sure how it happened. I only know that I missed all of you after, well, after I died. Especially George, my partner in crime. Then, suddenly, I was back at Hogwarts but soon I realized that I seemed to be a ghost but nobody could see or hear me. But I could still perform magic..."  
"But ghosts _can't_ perform magic!" Hermione interrupted.

"Well, it worked for me," Fred replied, looked at Hermione with a concentrated expression on his face and suddenly her face turned purple. Ginny and Luna laughed out loud and Hermione looked at them confused.

"What?" She asked, totally oblivious to what had happened to her face.

"You seem to have a strange taste for make-up." Fred said grinning.

Hermione turned towards one of the windows and gasped at her reflection.

"See?" Fred said, as he turned Hermione's complexion back to normal, "I don't know how it works, but I know that it does. Anyway, I realized that I was invisible and nobody could hear me. And then, out of nowhere, I knew that somebody had to find out about me to be able to talk to me. And, no Hermione, I don't know how I suddenly knew that! So I thought the best person to find out about me would probably be my little sister so I started playing pranks when she was around, hoping that she would recognize that it was me, especially by my handwriting." He winked at Ginny, who still looked quite taken aback.

"I still cannot believe it," Hermione said weakly, "If this is really true, how come nobody has ever heard of anything like this before?"

"You mean, how come _you_'ve never read about it?"

"Well..."  
"But Hermione," Luna said, "There are some things which simply cannot be explained. But that doesn't mean that they're not true."

"Well said, Luna!"

"But does that mean that you're a real ghost now?" Hermione asked, she really wanted to know.

For the first time since he had appeared Fred looked sad. "No, I'm only allowed to come back for the week of Halloween. So I'd like to ask you a favour. I really miss George quite a lot. Can you ask him to come to Hogwarts tomorrow? After all it's my last day here until I come back next year."

"Oh," Hermione's face brightened up, "We are meeting him and Ron and Harry tomorrow anyway in Hogsmeade. I'm sure Professor McGonagall wouldn't mind if they came to visit you here in the castle."  
"So, McGonagall is your new Headmistress now?" Fred asked, "Lucky for me I'm not at school anymore."

Ginny chuckled, "Yeah, but she still teaches Transfiguration, though."

"I guess, she still hasn't found anyone who is up to her standards in this subject yet," Fred said.

Hermione frowned, "Anyway, I think we should go to her now. It will also give me an opportunity to explain to her what happened to my homework."

Fred and Ginny exchanged a look and started laughing, not stopping for a while. Now that Fred was around again, Ginny realized how much she had really missed her brother and his stupid jokes!

Finally they went to the Headmistress's office and after explaining everything to her, they were all looking forward to the next day.

* * *

**Note:**** I hope you enjoyed my story! I have changed some facts about the wizarding world to make my story work. Therefore I've made up some facts about ghosts and poltergeists which I don't really know much about. But I hope you didn't mind me doing that.**

**Please let me know in a review if you liked my story!**


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